For its nutritional composition, donkey milk is an excellent alternative to breast milk for infants suffering from cow's milk allergies. Even in donkeys, a passage of aflatoxin from contaminated feed to milk could occur, as reported by many authors in other dairy species, but there are no studies on this topic. This work was aimed at studying the excretion of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) and M2 (AFM2) in milk after feeding trials with contaminated feed. Six donkeys, at the end of lactation, received a diet with naturally contaminated corn containing 202 and 11 μg.kg −1 of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), respectively. Individual milk samples were analyzed for AFM1 and AFM2 for 15 days after the contaminated feed administration. Amounts of AFM1 and AFM2 were detected in the milk. The steady state condition was reached after 6 days. No AFM1 or AFM2 were detected in milk after 28 h from the last contaminated feed administration. The carryover from AFB1 to AFM1 and from AFB2 to AFM2 was found to be 0.02 and 0.31%, respectively. The results obtained in this study are thus a further step toward understanding the possible carryover of aflatoxin in donkey milk.

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Currently, donkey milk is receiving an increasing attention from consumers and research community because of its several beneficial aspects, such as a poor allergenic nature and a remarkable antimicrobial compound content. In this study, we evaluated the growth rate of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644TM, Campylobacter jejuni ATCC 33291, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 at refrigeration conditions (4±2°C) in goat milk added with different percentages of donkey milk (1, 2.5, 5, 10% v/v) along 6 days of storage; furthermore, donkey milk and goat milk samples were employed as controls. Lysozyme content of donkey milk was determined and ranged from 1 mg.mL −1 up to 2 mg.mL. An inhibited growth rate in donkey milk samples was observed during storage for S. aureus, L. monocytogenes, and C. jejuni, with a growth decrease of 0.61 log CFU.mL , respectively. These data confirm the antibacterial activity of donkey milk against Gram-positive and Gramnegative microorganisms; however, microbial growth rates in milk mixtures and goat milk were comparable, with no significant increase in antibacterial activity due to donkey milk addition. Considering a potential employment of donkey milk in dairy products, further studies should be performed in order to detect the optimal balance of milk mixtures in terms of caseins and antimicrobial molecules amounts.

The aims of the present study were to evaluate the preventive and the therapeutic effect of Stodi® as phytogenic feed additive rich in phenolic substances on the calf diarrhea, during the first 24 days of life. A total of 40 calves were included and randomly divided into Group C (control group) and Group T (treated group) with placebo or treatment administration started from the third day of life (T0). Calves belonged to group C received 2 L of warm water, while the calves assigned to group T received 2L of warm water plus 30 g of Stodi®. Solutions administration was maintained until day 21 (T21) that was the end of the experimental period. Calves were weighed at T0 and T21 to assess the average daily gain (ADG). Physical examination and fecal score evaluation were performed daily. The duration of a diarrheic episode, the age of the first diarrhea outbreak (TDE) and the frequency of diarrheic episodes were recorded. Complete blood count, methemoglobin and liver enzymes were evaluated at T0 and at T21 in all the calves by spectrophotometer and clinical chemistry analysis, respectively. Data were analyzed using a mixed model. A Chi-square and a Mann-Whitney test were also performed. No difference was found for ADG between the groups. The difference of mean age at TDE was not statistically significant between C and T group. The number of calves with diarrhea in the C group tended to be higher than that of T group (p = 0.13). Calves in group C spent more days with clinical sign of diarrhea compared to group T (p = 0.016). Complete blood count, methemoglobin and liver enzymes were within the reference ranges. The feed additive Stodi® seemed to be effective in shortening neonatal diarrhea episodes in calves thanks to the administration of 30 g per day of product. The fixed dosage of Stodi® used in our study did not show a preventive effect to reduce the incidence of calf diarrhea.

Legume–cereal mixtures are pivotal in yielding a more balanced forage composition compared to the sole crops, due to the well-adjusted equilibrium of carbohydrate and protein. However, great attention is required in choosing the optimal ratio of the components for the mixtures and other agronomic practices (including N fertilization and stage of harvest), because they can sharply change the forage composition and quality. To fill this gap, the present research compared the herbage and silage qualities and key fermentative and nutritional traits of biomasses obtained by: (i) five mixtures (i.e., 100:0; 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100) of hybrid barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba var. minor); (ii) two N barley fertilization rates (0 vs. 140 kg N ha−1); and (iii) three stages of harvest (milky, early dough and soft dough). We found that the presence of faba bean improved the forage quality, either herbage or silage, through different mechanisms. In the herbage mixtures, faba bean inclusion increased crude protein (CP), and, when compared to the fertilized barley, also water-soluble sugar (WSCs) concentration, with small effects on the relative feed values (RFV) and total digestible nutrients (TDN). In the silage, the higher the faba bean share in the mixture, the higher the RFV, the non-fibrous carbohydrates, and total and lactic acid concentrations, and the lower the pH and the hemicellulose and cellulose concentrations, particularly at the early and mid stages of harvest. These improvements were likely due to the high ability of faba bean to attain a vegetative status (i.e., low dry matter concentration) by the end of the cropping season, and to improve the organic acid production. Our results suggest that the inclusion of faba bean in a barley-based silage system can widen the window for silage harvesting, thanks to its ability to sustain the fermentation process, despite a lower WSC to CP ratio compared to the unfertilized barley. These results occurred almost irrespectively of the faba bean share in the mixture and barley fertilization. This implies that when designing intercrop mixtures, the effect of crop densities on yield should be considered more than on quality.